Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 6, 2006 Friday

AZERBAIJAN WILL REMAIN AT THE NEGOTIATION TABLE

by Sohbet Mamedov

OSCE MEDIATORS CONVINCED BAKU OF THE NECESSITY TO CONTINUE CONTACTS
WITH YEREVAN; Azerbaijani-Armenian contacts will continue.

President Ilham Aliyev’s consent to continue contacts with Armenia
became the principal result of the latest round of negotiations
between chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and Azerbaijani leaders in
Baku.

Russian, American, and French diplomats elicited from official Baku
an agreement to organize a meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers. Yuri Merzlyakov, Russian Chairman of the OSCE
Minsk Group, said at the press conference that "renewal of direct
contacts over the Nagorno-Karabakh resolution was the subject of the
negotiations in Baku. We consider the mission accomplished."
According to the Russian diplomat, after similar consultations with
the Armenian leadership the involved parties will be able to discuss
the place and the time of a meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers and of a summit after that. A source in the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry claims that meetings like that may
already take place in late October.

Bernard Faciet of France acknowledged that the international
mediators would find organization of new meetings difficult because
their respective capitals "do not put up with a military solution to
the problem." Matthew Bryza of the United States said that GUAM’s
recent initiative to have the problem of suspended conflicts
discussed by the UN "might have a positive effect on the process of
Karabakh resolution."

Under pressure from enemies of negotiations with Armenia, Aliyev
addressed the first meeting of the autumn session of the Milli Mejlis
or national parliament. He said that not everything of what
international mediators were suggesting was acceptable for
Azerbaijan, the country that had lost 20% of its territory to
Armenia. "We are condemned for the alleged lack of interest in
finding a solution to the Karabakh problem. They say we are not
solving it. We are not solving it because what options of resolution
are offered do not answer national interests of Azerbaijan. Whatever
pressure may be applied, I will never sign any such document," Aliyev
said.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 4, 2006, p. 5

Translated by A. Ignatkin